Request for firms to lease vintage Public Belt railcars elicits no takers

The latest effort to get the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad's controversial Pullman cars rolling again hit the skids Monday, when a request for proposals from firms interested in leasing the vintage railcars garnered zero takers. Officials of the city-owned railroad had hoped to hire a manager to oversee rentals of the two so-called "business cars" -- under strict parameters issued last year by the state attorney general. But the 10 a.m. submission deadline came and went without a single offer, Interim General Manager John Morrow said.

Ellis Lucia/The Times-PicayuneA request for firms to manage rentals of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad's vintage Pullman cars garnered no proposals.

The lavish cars, which have become a symbol of profligate spending at the Public Belt, have been off limits to anyone other than agency staffers since news reports more than a year ago revealed that in addition to official tours, Public Belt managers routinely let friends, politicians and board members use the cars for free, often dipping into public coffers to finance the catered meals and cocktail services that accompanied the excursions.

Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell, responding last summer to a request from the agency's board for guidance on the cars' use, said the Public Belt can allow "limited short-term uses" of the cars, "provided it obtains in return a value or benefit that is commensurate with such use."

Public Belt officials opted this year not to sell the cars after a single bid for the two cars and a third, unfinished model came in far lower than the $2 million the agency paid to refurbish them.

Even with new rules in place, board members canceled an excursion in June by executives from Mediterranean Shipping Co., International Paper Co. and other Port of New Orleans clients across the Public Belt's 25 miles of railroad tracks, which stretch across the Huey P. Long Bridge, along the Mississippi River, through the port and the French Quarter and on to the city's eastern reaches.

Though the trip had been authorized by Morrow and was to be a strictly business affair -- with no food service and only non-alcoholic beverages -- the board's ownership and management committee declared that it wanted to review the regulations before allowing rides to resume.

The same committee last week relented somewhat in opting to allow Transportation Consultants Inc., a Public Belt customer that transports and stores shipping containers, to rent one of the cars for an event this month at its France Road headquarters. The agency will charge $1,000 to move the car to and from the site and will not provide catering, Morrow said, adding that the price is "way over our overhead."

Morrow, who casts the cars as a unique asset that the Public Belt can offer its customers, said renting one of the cars to TCI falls within the strict parameters laid out by Caldwell. Commissioner David Schulingkamp said the TCI request differs starkly from past use of the cars.

"I think the crux of the criticism in the use of the cars was that it was done not only without a conversation but at the cost of the railroad," he said.

Commissioner Scott Cowen drew a distinction between renting out the cars for excursions -- which hike the Public Belt's insurance exposure -- versus for stand-still use.

"When it's stationary, it's almost a no-brainer," he said.

Anticipating Monday's deadline for proposals to manage rental operations, Morrow said that if no firms responded to the request, the Public Belt, "will get into the rental business ourselves."

The Pullman cars had been a pet project of former General Manager Jim Bridger, who recently pleaded guilty in federal court to misapplication of funds in connection with personal and entertainment expenses billed to a railroad credit card.

Bridger also has pleaded guilty to nine state charges of theft and one charge of malfeasance in office related to his alleged misuse of railcars. The state judge presiding in the case has said whatever sentence she imposes will run concurrently with Bridger's federal sentence and that her punishment will not exceed that of the federal judge.

Bridger is set to be sentenced in federal court Jan. 4 and in state court two days later.